Internet Perceived As A Threat By Government(s)

Internet Perceived As A Threat By Government(s)

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

Anytime people gather to discuss the shortcomings or “over comings” of their governments, those governments feel threatened. 

In the world of the 21^st century, the Internet is akin to a global town hall.  And that makes the Internet a HUGE threat to governments, everywhere.  They know it -- and they hate it.

Enter the UN.

“A gathering of United Nations diplomats overseas has some in the U.S. worried about a potential takeover of the Internet by foreign powers – with others claiming such fears are wildly over hyped.

The obscure branch of the U.N. at issue is the International Telecommunication Union, whose 193 member states include the U.S. and which was convening this week in Geneva. The ostensible purpose of the conference is to seek consensus for an updating of the last set of international telecom regulations, known as ITRs, which were issued in 1988.”  (SOURCE)

Ok.  So … why is this a concern?  Well, let’s go back to the story from Fox News:  “…Robert McDowell, a commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission, has been warning that the conference is a moment of great peril for industrialized and Third World countries alike. In an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal and a subsequent interview with Fox Business, McDowell accused the so-called “BRIC” countries – Brazil, Russia, India, and China – and their allies among developing nations of trying to seize the moment to strengthen international regulation of the Internet. Such a development, McDowell claimed, would imperil the Web’s historic role as an outlet for free expression and economic growth.”

If you are thinking that the statement by the FCC commissioner is really mind-boggling coming, as it is, from a member of an agency of the Obama Regime, then don’t.  Take a breath.  You see, Commissioner McDowell is a George Bush appointee to the FCC.

Telecommunication Union spokesman Gary Fowlie, in an interview with Fox news said:  “(International Telecommunication Union) members do not want heavy-handed regulation,” Fowlie went on to say: “There are no proposals on the table that would impact access to or freedom of the Internet." (SOURCE)

Danny Weitzner, deputy chief technology officer at the White House, is reported to have recently said:  “This multi-stakeholder process -- the process that the Internet community has pioneered in many ways -- I think works based on the fact that people have things they need to do together,” he told the Brookings audience. “It doesn't really work when one people tells someone else what to do. That's kind of the Marx command-and-control model.” (SOURCE)

Look.  It takes no stretch of the imagination to see where the UN is headed with all this. They want to control world wide instant communications between the people of the planet … period.

There was a time, and not so long ago, that in order for there to be a successful revolution or uprising of the people against their government, the rebels absolutely MUST take control of the country’s radio and TV stations. It remains a fact today, that for tinhorn dictators (who still dot the globe) control of broadcast stations and other means of communications -- including the Internet and the print media -- is imperative in order to maintain power over their people.

Just days ago, the world learned that Iran had simply turned off the Internet in that benighted country.  I’m not a technician, so I don’t know how, exactly, you do that, but the mad mullahs of Iran do … and they’ve done it.

Here, in what used to be a free America, we know the government has access to every e-mail we send … not to mention our landline phone calls and our cell phones, as well.  According to Col. Ollie North, the only communications the US government does not read are smoke signals.

The facts of the matter are plain.  It is only a matter of time before there is worldwide regulation of the Internet. The governments of the world, both good and bad, simply cannot allow people all over the globe to communicate with each other at will.  It is far too dangerous to their hold over us. The Internet must be regulated to protect THEM.  It is the same principle as dispersing a crowd of people to avoid a riot. 

I submit that if Thomas Paine and Samuel Adams were alive today, they would be burning the Internet up with their rabble-rousing commentaries.  Just as their fiery tomes led to the revolt against Great Britain by her colonies in America, other commentators around the globe are having similar effects upon THEIR totalitarian governments.  THAT is a THREAT and it cannot be allowed to continue.

Sooner, or later, the Internet will be regulated and governed by a single international entity.  Bet on it.

J. D. Longstreet

Americans Continue to Arm Themselves In Record Numbers

Americans Continue to Arm Themselves In Record Numbers

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

The last two months of 2011 saw Americans buying guns in record numbers.  December 23^rd saw more guns bought in one day that ever before.  It set a record.

In an article at “The Telegraph,” a British News site, entitled: “Americans buy record numbers of guns for Christmas,” Nick Allen writes:  “According to the FBI, over 1.5 million background checks on customers were requested by gun dealers to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System in December. Nearly 500,000 of those were in the six days before Christmas.


It was the highest number ever in a single month, surpassing the previous record set in November.


On Dec 23 alone there were 102,222 background checks, making it the second busiest single day for buying guns in history.


The actual number of guns bought may have been even higher if individual customers took home more than one each.” (SOURCE)

Mr. Allen goes on to say:  “Explanations for America's surge in gun buying include that it is a response to the stalled economy with people fearing crime waves. Another theory is that buyers are rushing to gun shops because they believe tighter firearms laws will be introduced in the future.” (SOURCE)

To be sure BOTH the explanations mentioned above are valid -- but there’s more to it that that.

Back in January of 2009, in an article entitled: “Americans Are Arming Themselves.  Why?” I wrote the following:  “The popular explanation is that Americans are afraid of what this socialist Congress and president will do to deprive Americans of their constitutional right to keep and bear arms.

Well, that is CERTAINLY a PART of it, but I think there is more, much more, and a far more serious explanation… and, I am convinced the government believes as I do.

See, I think the American people are preparing themselves to go toe to toe with their government.  I believe the American people are making a statement.  That statement is:  “This Far and No Farther!”  In other words, “We are going to give you socialists a chance.  But, if you step over the line, if you attempt to deprive us of our constitutional right to keep and bear arms, we will not tolerate that.”

Some of us older Americans remember what happened when the socialist took over in Russia in 1917. It is NOT going to be allowed to happen here.

I think it is meant to counter the act of the Bush, and soon, Obama Administrations of bringing combat troops back to The States and stationing them here, on US soil, reportedly for population control in the event of “social unrest” or massive acts of “civil disorder or disobedience” keyed by any number of things including the economy going through the floor, or, well, I’ll let your imagination fill in the blank, because, frankly, the subject is so delicate, I don’t even want to touch it! 

I have concluded, rightly or wrongly, that Americans are sending a signal to their government.  That signal is:  “We won’t be bullied. There will be a price to pay if you dare step over the line.”  Congress and the President had better pay attention.  It is low profile stuff at the moment, but it can get very big, very fast.  And… it is VERY dangerous!”  (SOURCE)

Our overseas cousins have great difficulty understanding American’s love of the gun.  But it really IS quite simple.  You see -- America was born at the muzzle of a gun.  We won our freedom at the muzzle of a gun.  We expanded our country from the Atlantic to the Pacific at the muzzle of a gun.  We fought our own war over state’s rights at the muzzle of a gun.  We preserved our freedom by defeating the Japanese and the Germans at the muzzle of a gun and we have assisted a number of countries to maintain, or regain, their freedom at the muzzle of a gun. Even now, as I write, the US military is patrolling the waters of the Persian Gulf to protect the transport of approximately 40% of the world’s oil and ensure it’s passage through the Straits of Hormuz -- at the muzzle of our big naval guns, and we continue an attempt to salvage Afghanistan and drag it into the 21^st century by fighting off religious fanatics -- at the muzzle of a gun.

Americans understand the importance of the ability of every man to defend himself, his family, and his freedom.  We also understand the importance of assisting our global neighbors in defending their freedom -- for the loss of their freedom brings the threat one step closer to our shores.

Americans have a scared duty to halt the encroachment of domestic tyranny. Freedom is our birthright and we WILL defend it.

Many Americans are deeply concerned over the state of the world today.  We remember what happened in the 1930’s when the world found itself in similar circumstances to today.  It led to a world war.

Then, too, there is this:  We rather like the rogue nations, the terrorists, the tyrants, and tin-pot dictators to know that the American public is armed to the teeth, ready, and willing to defend our country should they, through some mental aberration, have designs on it.  The LAST thing you want to confront is a PO’ed American with a gun!

Oh, … and we like to hunt, too.

J. D. Longstreet

States Distancing Themselves From The Federal Government

States Distancing Themselves From The Federal Government
Over 40 States Declare State Sovereignty
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
**********************************

NINTH AMENDMENT to the US Constitution: The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.TENTH AMENDMENT to the US Constitution: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

As I have observed over the past few months the “State Sovereignty Movement” continues to sweep the nation with well over three-quarters of the fifty states taking action, through their respective state legislatures, re-establishing their “sovereignty”.

It is being reported that there are over 40 states with state sovereignty declarations as of this writing. If true, that is heartening. There is no doubt the states have been relegated to second-class citizenship in the US. That is just WRONG and must be corrected!

We found reports on the Internet stating that THERE ARE 12 NEW STATE SOVEREIGNTY DECLARATIONS IN PROGRESS, RIGHT NOW!! THEY INCLUDE ALABAMA. NEBRASKA, Rhode Island, WYOMING, WASHINGTON, INDIANA, KENTUCKY, GEORGIA, KANSAS, MISSOURI, MISSISSIPPI, AND MARYLAND!

WYOMING is the newest constitutionally sovereign state. The bill was signed into law on March 8th, 2010. Utah did the same on the 25th of February 2010. The debate continues in my home state of South Carolina, but my guess is it will pass the state legislature and be signed into law by the “Sandlappers” very soon now.

Here in North Carolina, House Bill H849 “supporting the state’s right to claim sovereignty over certain powers under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States” has been filed.

Here’s the full text:

Whereas, the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States reads as follows: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states, respectively, or to the people;” and

Whereas, the Tenth Amendment defines the total scope of federal power as being that specifically granted by the Constitution of the United States and no more; and

Whereas, the scope of power defined by the Tenth Amendment means that the federal government was created by the states specifically to be an agent of the states; and

Whereas, today, in 2009, the states are demonstrably treated as agents of the federal government; and

Whereas, many federal mandates are directly in violation of the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States; and

Whereas, Section 4 of Article IV of the Constitution of the United States says, “The United States shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government,” and the Ninth Amendment states that “The enumeration in the constitution of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people;” and

Whereas, the United States Supreme Court ruled in New York v. United States, 112 S. Ct. 2408 (1992), that Congress may not simply commandeer the legislative and regulatory processes of the states; and

Whereas, a number of proposals from previous administrations and some now pending from the present administration and from Congress may further violate the Constitution of the United States; Now, therefore,

Be it resolved by the House of Representatives:

SECTION 1. The North Carolina House of Representatives supports the State’s right to claim sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government or reserved to the people by the Constitution of the United States.

SECTION 2. The North Carolina House of Representatives urges the federal government, as the agent of the State, to cease and desist, effective immediately, mandates that are beyond the scope of any constitutionally delegated powers.

SECTION 3. The North Carolina House of Representatives further urges that compulsory federal legislation which directs states to comply under threat of civil or criminal penalties or sanctions or requires states to pass legislation or lose federal funding be prohibited or repealed.

SECTION 4. The Principal Clerk shall transmit a certified copy of this resolution to the President of the United States, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and each member of the North Carolina Congressional Delegation.

SECTION 5. This resolution is effective upon adoption.

Read more on North Carolina’s efforts to re-establish its sovereignty HERE.

I took a look in my crystal ball and, for the life of me; I could see no indication of the effect the sovereignty movement will have on future relations between the states and their “agent”… the federal government. Only time will tell. However, I must tell you, it does this old southern boy’s heart good to see “State’s Rights” again brought to the fore in the United States.

James Madison, The Founder we refer to as “The Father of the Constitution,” wrote the following: “To preserve the Republic, it is in the hands of the people. We have staked the whole future of American civilization not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government; upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments"

As with all Americans we “Southerners” get a lot of things wrong. But we have been right on the issue of “State’s Rights” all along. See, southerners had a bit more than just a signature invested in the creation of the Constitution, itself. There was never any doubt, in our minds, about who “the greater” and who “the lesser” was/is in this association of states and federal government. I must tell you, I am more than a little pleased to find the names of several northern and western states, and even northeastern states, included in the list of the names of the states involved in the State Sovereignty Movement.

Washington would do well to take notice, serious notice, of this movement. The Congress and the President may have forgotten, but it is “the boss” filing this complaint. It is very easy to sit in Washington and spend North Carolina’s money, or the money of the folks from Texas or Oklahoma. But, believe me when I tell you that we have been paying attention and we do not like having our state’s treasuries looted by a heavy-handed federal government.

The current Congress would also do well to read up on the “Ordinance of Nullification” passed by my home state of South Carolina in 1828. You can read it for yourself HERE. Suffice it to say State Sovereignty is NOT a NEW issue in this country. It appears we will have to visit it -- yet again.

J. D. Longstreet

The “Slaughter Solution” To Passing ObamaCare through the US House.

The “Slaughter Solution” To Passing ObamaCare through the US House.
How Low Will The Democrats Go?
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

************************

The following excerpt is from the blog of Republican Representative John Boehner of Ohio:
“Democrats Prepare “Slaughter Solution” to Ram Unpopular Health Care Takeover Through Congress Without a Vote.

The twisted scheme by which Democratic leaders plan to bend the rules to ram President Obama’s massive health care legislation through Congress now has a name: the Slaughter Solution.

The Slaughter Solution is a plan by Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY), the Democratic chair of the powerful House Rules Committee and a key ally of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), to get the health care legislation through the House without an actual vote on the Senate-passed health care bill. You see, Democratic leaders currently lack the votes needed to pass the Senate health care bill through the House. Under Slaughter’s scheme, Democratic leaders will overcome this problem by simply “deeming” the Senate bill passed in the House - without an actual vote by members of the House.

An article in this morning’s edition of National Journal’s CongressDaily breaks the story, starting with the headline: “SLAUGHTER PREPS RULE TO AVOID DIRECT VOTE ON SENATE BILL.” You may read the entire article HERE.

National Journal’s Congress Daily says: "House Rules Chairwoman Louise Slaughter is prepping to help usher the healthcare overhaul through the House and potentially avoid a direct vote on the Senate overhaul bill, the chairwoman said Tuesday.

"Slaughter is weighing preparing a rule that would consider the Senate bill passed once the House approves a corrections bill that would make changes to the Senate version.

"Slaughter has not taken the plan to Speaker Pelosi as Democrats await CBO scores on the corrections bill. 'Once the CBO gives us the score, we'll spring right on it,' she said." Read the entire article HERE.

At the Washington Examiner they have an article titled: “House Democrats looking at 'Slaughter Solution' to pass Obamacare without a vote on Senate bill UPDATED!” In the article, the Washington Examiner asks the question: “Would House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her fellow House Democratic leaders try to cram the Senate version of Obamacare through the House without actually having a recorded vote on the bill?

Not only is the answer yes, they would, they have figured out a way to do it….” Read more at the Washington Examiner: HERE.

Now, all of this happened a couple of days ago. But, I have to ask; just how low will the democrats stoop in order to ram this Socialized Medicine bill down the throats of the American people.

Now do you believe us? Now do you believe what we have been declaring for so long now? I mean, of course, our warnings that the Healthcare bill, ObamaCare, if you will, is NOT ABOUT HEALTHCARE? IT IS ALL ABOUT POWER! Yes! It is all about power for the Democrats, the Progressives, the Socialists, the Marxists, and the Communists that infest the White House and the Congress in America these days.

If America is to remain free, well, at least retain the few freedoms we haven’t already given away to a grasping federal government, we must, absolutely MUST, defeat the ObamaCare bill now floundering in the US House of Representatives.

My Congressman, Mike McIntyre, a democrat representing my US House District in North Carolina is sanding fast! He has consistently voted “no” on these outrageous healthcare bills. He is quoted into today’s Fayetteville Times as STILL standing pat with a great big “NO” vote. Larry Kissell, over in the neighboring US House district of North Carolina has also flatly stated that he will vote “NO” on the ObamaCare Bill -- and North Carolina Senator Burr stated he, too, will continue to vote “NO” on ObamaCare in the Senate.

As you can see by the Slaughter Solution, the cabal of democrats, Socialists, Progressives, Marxists, and Communists is bound and determined to grasp America by the throat and squeeze the freedom and liberties granted by the US Constitution to death. I mean, after all, they view the Constitution as an outdated list of suggestions that have outlived their usefulness and are, if anything, a roadblock, an impediment to their acquisition of absolute power over the people of America.

I read today a commentator who opined that republicans are telling Americans to be afraid. I have to tell you. If you are not afraid, in America today, then something is very wrong with you!

Americans ARE afraid – and they are angry! Need I remind the Socialists, Marxists, the Communists and the Progressives, there is nothing on the face of God’s green earth as dangerous as a P.O.ed American!

Even if we manage to kill ObamaCare aborning, the backlash has already begun. P.O.ed Americans are going to the polls this coming November on a mission. A mission to rid the halls of Congress of as many Socialists, Marxists, Progressives, Communists, AND DEMOCRATS as they possibly can.

We are fighting for our liberty these days. Most Americans, although slow to understand what was really happening with the Obama Regime’s assault on the constitution, have finally gotten hold to the truth and have awakened to the “clear and present danger” Obama and his minions present for freedom and liberty in America.

When Americans came to realize Obama had surrounded himself with Communists, Marxists, Progressives, and Socialists in the White House --, they were shaken to their core! Now, however, they are angry and they have vowed to take back their country.

We have a long and difficult summer ahead of us. The Democrats understand that the gig is up. They understand they have been caught red-handed and they also understand that their days are numbered in positions of power in the Congress and in the White House. So, between today, and Election Day in November, they will be trying every trick in the book to move their agenda forward. We, the conservative opposition, must be equally as cunning and as tireless in our efforts to block them at every turn, to hem them in, to box them in, and neutralize them until they can be voted out of office and our constitution and our country rendered safe once again.

In the meantime, we must not let up, one little bit, with our opposition to the socialized medicine bill referred to as ObamaCare. We absolutely must defeat it. The we must turn our attention to the “New Amnesty Bill” called The Comprehensive Immigration Bill, the intent of which is to provide a “pathway to citizenship” for those illegal aliens already in our country after having broken our laws and entered as a thief in the night, or burglars enter our homes. And then -- there is Cap and Trade -- a massive, massive, tax on energy for every American, man, woman, and child. Of course, there will be much, much, more.

America was sold a “bill of goods!” by the Obama Campaign. North Carolina bought that “bill of goods.” Today it is paying the price. North Carolina has the highest unemployment since the great depression at over eleven percent. Our sister state, South Carolina is in much the same condition. Both states have at least one “Progressive” senator. In South Carolina it is Lindsey Graham and in North Carolina is in Kay Hagen. Both must be called home and relieved of duty in the Senate as soon as possible. Barring that -- they must be made aware of the feelings of their constituents toward their behavior in lending “aid and comfort” to the Obama Regime and our “rogue” Congress. They must be brought in line and kept in line by public pressure until they can be relived at the ballot box.

Freedom isn’t free. One of the costs is “eternal vigilance.” We can never, not for one minute, take our eyes off the Congress and the White House.

If, as I suspect, our national economy goes from bad to worse, over the coming months, the struggle for complete and absolute power by the government over the people will heat up. We must resist. Somehow, someway we must not allow this great experiment, called America, to be
strangled by an All Powerful Central Government.

The former poet laureate of South Carolina, author James Dickey once defined a “Southern Gentleman” as “a man with a Bible in one hand and a cannonball in the other.” Well, as I like to think of myself as a Southern Gentleman, I have just served up my cannon ball, now -- I will offer my Bible. From the scriptures we glean this bit of everlasting wisdom:

“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” – 2 Chronicles 7:14.

If you know HOW to pray, may I suggest that NOW is exactly the time for you to put it into practice?

“Deo Duce Vincemus” -- (Under the leadership of God we will conquer).

J. D. Longstreet

How Many States Plan To Disarm?

How Many States Plan To Disarm?
A Gun Ban in the US is Impossible
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
**********************
Text of the 2nd amendment to the US Constitution:
“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

What part of “SHALL NOT” do the gun control advocates NOT UNDERSTAND?

This time, the US Supreme Court has been asked to decide if the states have the right to take your guns away. We’re talking about the state governments – not the federal government.

The “gun grabbers” have not given up. Oh, no! They are “true believers,” choosing to believe in the myth and the fairy tale that if you take people’s guns away America will be a safer place. They believe this in spite of the facts out there for everyone to see.

See, those stubborn facts tell a different story. Those facts tell us that when you mandate by law that citizens must give up their guns, law-abiding citizens will do it. They won’t like it. They will grumble and fuss, but in the end -- they will give them up. On the other hand the citizens who do not abide by the law will not give up their guns and, as a result, a huge power shift occurs. Power is snatched from the hands of the law-abiding citizens and given to the government and the outlaws…. but I repeat myself. Next comes anarchy.

I’ll make a prediction here. If the time ever comes in America when the government, state or federal, forces the citizens to give up their guns and the bad guys begin their reign of fear, a cottage industry will spring up all across the land. It will be an industry turning out homemade firearms. Soon that will turn into a full-fledged black market where underground illicit firearms factories will be created to meet the demand from citizens seeking protection for their homes and their families.

There is something very important the elite in this country do not know. That is -- just how easy it is to produce a firearm. Even “yours truly” produced homemade firearms while still a student in high school. I even had a single shot 22 caliber “zip gun” (made by me) sewn inside the sleeve of my black horsehide leather jacket! No Joke! I was serious then -- and I am serious now.

A fellow student produced a handgun so powerful it blew a nice fat, round, hole through the side of his father’s barn. And we were KIDS! How sophisticated do you think a couple of high school kids were about the intricacies of producing firearms?

The point is, just like prohibition, a ban on firearms in the United States will back fire and it will create more problems than ever expected by the gungrabbers and/or the government whether that government is state or federal. And mark this: neither a state government nor the federal government will be able to handle it.

Let us say, hypothetically, of course, that a state government decides to ban guns within that state. How long do you think it will be before thriving gun smuggling operations are set up to meet the demand for guns in that “gun-free” state? I’d give it hours. Maybe the leaders of the gungrabbers have not thought about this – but you can bet the ATF has!

Understand this. Banning guns in the United States is impossible. It cannot be done, except on paper. The citizens of this country will be armed.

The Supreme Court will, more than likely, hand down their decision before June of this year. The American citizens have already made their decision. They WILL have guns – one way -- or the other.

4J. D. Longstreet

The Greatest Generation Should be Ashamed of Us Today

The Greatest Generation Should be Ashamed of Us Today

America No Longer Has the WILL to WIN!

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

****************************

As I considered President Obama’s words concerning the war in Afghanistan a few days ago, I found myself embarrassed by them. To realize Obama had no intention of ‘winning” a war in Afghanistan, and that the word victory was never used in his entire speech, it became clear to me that Obama was only concerned with “ending” the war in Afghanistan -- not winning it.

Now, let’s be clear about something. The United States could/can win a war in Afghanistan. The United States could/can win a war anywhere it chose/chooses.

Just nuke ‘em.

No, I am NOT KIDDING. Had we nuked the Tora Bora region of Afghanistan when we were sure Osama bin Laudin was hiding there, we would have been finished with the never ending search for him and we would have sent a powerful message to our enemies -- everywhere -- to attack the US is to bring unimaginable death and destruction down on the attackers and their loved ones. The price is not worth it.

The Commander-in-Chief could have ordered it done -- and -- in my opinion, SHOULD have ordered it done. We had the means and the wherewithal to do it. What we did not have was THE WILL!

Today as I think back to 1941 and the sneak attack by the Japanese on the US Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, I thank God that we had men of fortitude in charge of this country. Men of courage stepped forward and offered themselves, their futures, and their very lives to win a total victory over the Japanese and, as it turned out, the Germans, as well.

Today, as the few survivors of that great conflict watch America circle the drain, how sad they must be. They must be deeply depressed to watch the wishy-washy, limp-wristed, leadership of this nation apologize for being the world’s only superpower. To watch a President of the United States actually BOW to a Japanese leader must make them physically sick to their stomachs. To watch the American leader acting more as a naive boy, than a man, on the world stage has to be a bitter pill to swallow for the remnant of the Greatest Generation.

I have a similar reaction. Born just before the US was compelled, by events that took place 68 years ago today, to join the Second World War, my formative years were molded in that worldwide crucible of death and destruction. Yes, like so many of my generation who were mere children during that conflagration, I readily admit that it left me with scars and with definite ideas about freedom’s cost and the necessary sacrifices a nation MUST be prepared to make to preserve her freedom and liberty.

Firebombing the enemy's cities and killing over a hundred thousand men, women, and children to break the enemy's will to fight, was necessary, -- and they did it! Dropping a nuclear bomb on an enemy city to force them to surrender was necessary, and so -- they did it! Dropping a second nuclear bomb on a second enemy city, to drive home the point that we were relentless and had the will to kill as many of the Japanese and/or the Germans as was necessary to compel them to the surrender table was necessary, -- and they did it.

Horrendous? Yes! Necessary? ABSOLUTELY! Did it take courage? YES! More than you or I will ever know-- if we are lucky. But with current events as they are, with Islamofacists seeking the death of every American man, woman, and child, WE, YOU and I, MUST be prepared to take whatever necessary steps are called for to insure they fail. If that requires the use of nuclear weapons to completely wipe out a terrorist nest in the caves and mountains of the Middle East, then WE, YOU and I, MUST BE PREPARED TO USE THEM! I submit to you that the current leadership of the United States is NOT PREPARED to take the steps that may be necessary to insure the continuation of the freedom and the liberty those wonderful men and women of The Greatest Generation offered everything they were -- and everything they ever hoped to be -- to preserve for us.

My personal journey to becoming a conservative began at Pearl Harbor. My philosophy on politics had its birth on the morning of December 7th, 1941.

It was a beautiful Sunday morning in Paradise when ......... ......... .........

Around 8 AM, 68 years ago today, the Japanese swooped in, out of a brilliant blue sky over Hawaii, and bombed the port of Pearl Harbor to smithereens. Much of the muscle of our Navy was destroyed. Two thousand and four hundred US servicemen were killed.I was seven months old.In the next four years, as my consciousness grew, I became aware of all the activity around me. I saw soldiers in uniform. I saw my grandmother crying when the telegram came that her baby boy had been "Killed in Action" somewhere in Europe.And finally, I remember guns being fired into the air, people running through the streets of our little South Carolina town, hugging and kissing each other. I remember folks saying: “It’s over!” And it was. But it left an indelible mark on my family and an equally deep mark on me.

Those first 4 years of my life, the formative years, were experienced under intense stress. I learned the cost of war right from the beginning stages of my life. I lost one uncle, in Belgium (the Ancestral homeland) another was machine gunned through both thighs and lay in a freezing stream in France, all night, until American troops found him the next morning. The icy water of that frozen stream saved his life. He suffered ”shell-shock” (referred to as "Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome" today) the remainder of his life. A summertime thunderstorm became an instant German artillery barrage. He would race for cover. The flashbacks were ever with him.

Others of my family were in the Pacific fighting the Japanese. They, too, came home with stories of Japanese Kamikaze planes hitting their ships and, in one case, finding a woman… yes, I said a woman, pilot in one of them! She was alive. For whatever reason, the plane with the bomb attached, did not explode.

When we could get those veterans to talk, which was not often, I was spellbound by the stories of their experience. I soaked it up like a sponge.

You see, I learned, both from personal experience, and the second hand experience of my family members, who were in the hell of the Second World War, what war really is. And, I learned that you have no choice when the enemy brings the war to your doorstep, you must fight back, and you must prevail, no matter the cost.

Today, we find ourselves in another war, which was brought to our doorstep. In doing so, the enemy killed many more people with their sneak attack than the Japanese did with their sneak attack on Pearl Harbor.

I don’t suffer fools lightly. My generation shares that quality. Today we have people in our government who are advocating a policy of retreat for the United States in our war against terrorist in the Middle East. It does not seem to matter to those folks, that an enemy which has brought war to our shores, will not quit, and go home, just because we do. They will follow us back to our own country and continue to wage war against us here... in our land.

It makes no difference how many medals hang from a man’s uniform or suit jacket. For all the times he was right, represented by those medals, there are times when he is wrong.

Had the United States listened to the “doves” after Pearl Harbor, I would most likely be writing this missive in German rather than English. It was that serious then, and it is that serious now.

So, as we think, today, of the men and women who gave everything they had, including their lives, to insure that you and I would have a free country, let us think of the men and women serving today for the same reason.

On December 7th, 1941 the Japanese, and the Germans, wanted nothing less than the conquest of the world. Today the Islamofacists want the same thing.

You have to ask yourself… as an American… are you going to stand down, ground your weapon, and allow this evil from the deepest, darkest, depths of hell, to take your country? That is the question all Americans must ask themselves. For, understand, they will not stop with America. Once America is out of the way, the remainder of the world will fall to them as easily as dominoes.
The Men and Women (Caps Intentional) of 1941 had to ask themselves the same question. We had better thank Almighty God they answered in the affirmative.

Today, we honor them for it. But they will tell you, those who survive to this day, that there was no real question about what the people of America would do. It was simply understood that freedom was far to precious to allow the forces of evil to take it from us. And so they marched forth to stop it and preserve this country for you and me. And they did!

We can never thank them enough. Not only did they save America, they saved the world!

Are we, as Americans, prepared to give up our freedom today after that generation gave so much of their blood to preserve it for us?

I pray to God that America will finally awaken to the danger that threatens us and take the painful steps, whatever they might be, to preserve this country, and again, the world.

J. D. Longstreet

Is The Cost of Freedom Too High? Totalitarian Socialism is Much Cheaper!

Is The Cost of Freedom Too High? Totalitarian Socialism is Much Cheaper!
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
************************************************

I’ve thought about it for a long while now and I have concluded that the US needs to recant its pledge not to be the first to use the atom bomb in a war/conflict. I mean, hey, we did it, already. Two of them, in fact! Perhaps you remember August 1945 and a place called Japan??? I do!

Look, we are allowing ourselves to be tied up in these little brushfire wars in Afghanistan, and Iraq, when both could be ended by a flight of B-2’s and a few nukes.

What about the problem in Iran? Well, Mr. Ahmadinejad wants the atomic bomb? Well, I say give it to him, several, actually, delivered from the bomb bay of a B-2, or B-52 bomber.

Then… the little squirt in North Korea, we could provide a demonstration of what a REAL atomic blast looks like… up close and personal!

For those of you screaming at the computer and pulling your hair out about now, YES, I know it is extreme. But understand this: the whiners and those who bitch, and moan, about the war in Afghanistan going badly, and those who force our armed forces to fight with one, or both, hands tied behind their backs are, quite frequently, the same people. They are quickly pushing the US into a corner. A corner, from which, the only means of escape is to lash out in all directions. The most effective way to do that is with our atomic arsenal.

I hear the “national scolds” complaining that we have now been in Iraq as longer than it took for us to fight the Second World War. Well, actually, that’s true, but we have less KIA’s than we had the day we hit the beach in Normandy!

So, you want to leave win the war, any war? Use the nuke arsenal. It would be quick, efficient, very effective, and there would be no question as to the victor. Leave the offending country a radioactive pile of debris for the next few thousand years.

We have the material, the methods, and the means to take out any country causing trouble for us in the world. I must tell you, those atomic weapons, as costly as they are, would be more cost efficient than placing a couple hundred thousand troops on the ground, in a troublesome region, and supporting those troops while forcing them to fight handicapped. And that is what we are doing, currently!

Hey, I’m tired of all the bellyaching, all the bitching, and moaning, coming from the very people who could not screw up enough courage to defend their own shadow. I’m tired of good, loyal, American men and women spilling their blood and laying down their lives for a whole segment of our society who have no respect, nor love for the country nor their fellow Americans. I’m tired of the useful, idiots our enemies find, in abundance, in the governing bodies in Washington.

What you will, my fellow Americans, but we have become two nations, again, much as this country split in the 1860’s. I’m not talking about a North/South split… I’m talking about a “Love America/Hate America” split. The last presidential election did nothing to bring us closer together. In fact, it appears Obama’s election has driven us even farther apart. We are hopelessly split apart and the Union, though it appears as one on paper, in reality… it no longer exists. Neither side has any interest, at all, in rejoining the other.

The “Hate America” and the “Blame America First” crowds (one and the same) have sapped this country of its will to survive. Any medical practitioner will tell you that when the will to survive is gone… all is lost.

The story is told of a Confederate general, during the darkest days of the America “War Between the States,” sending a dispatch to the Commanding General, Gen Robert E. Lee. In the dispatch, the Southern general is said to report that he and his troops were cut off, vastly outnumbered, the causality rate was extremely high, they were without provisions, and their ammunition was all but gone. In summation that Southern cavalier told Gen. Lee he would do the only thing left for him, and his men, to do. So, he said, they would attack, at dawn, with everything they had at their disposal!

That is the America I was born into. That is the America I grew up in. That is the America for which I wore the uniform of the US Army, and that is the America, which does not exist anymore.

I am frustrated with “mealy-mouthed” Americans who will accept second place. In my America, second place didn’t exist… in anything. Like the US Marine Corp, the improbable we did right away. The impossible took us just a tad longer.

I have been chided for stating that the US losses in Iraq are well within the acceptable range. Look, you don’t go to war if deaths are not acceptable. Rather, you bow your head and bare your neck to the chains of slavery. If you would remain free you must be willing to pay the price. The price for freedom is high. It is paid in the blood of patriots… the men and women of our Armed Forces.

I am heartsick at what this nation has become. America is now a cesspool of deviancy, mediocrity, cowardice, socialism, secularism, hedonism, and, regardless of what Obama says we are without hope.

Somewhere, about the late 1960’s to early 1970’s, Americans, like the shirker, in the Bible, decided to bury our talents for safekeeping rather than risk them in order to have them grow and benefit the country. Now we are paying the price for that reticence to risk everything for each other.

We are growing apart as a people. Our national conversation has grown shrill and vulgar. We can’t communicate with each other. When we try, it turns into a shouting match. We have become course, crass, and without sophistication. Our gentility is gone.

Finally, we have painted ourselves into a corner now. A corner, which threatens to deny us, even our own survival. Only drastic action will save us… and, unfortunately, many Americans do not wish to be saved and those who do are not interested in saving those who don’t. We are feeding upon ourselves.

I began this piece by pointing out where this attitude of mediocrity has gotten America in its war-fighting capability and the cost to recover that capability. Atomic Bombs will certainly win for us on the battlefields, but they will do nothing to salvage our land.

American men and women in uniform are growing tired of sacrificing their blood, limbs, and lives, for fellow Americans who actually want them to lose! And why would they not? They have grown distrustful of their Commander-in-Chief who is plainly dragging hi feet while trying to make a decision on whether oer not to allow those American fighting ment to have the resources they say they need to win the war in Afghanistan. Once before, in Somalia, a President (of the same political party) denied a request from the commanders on the ground and it cost the lives of at least 18 US service men and resulted in the withdrawal of US troops from that troubled land – and -- emboldened America’s enemies to such a degree that they flew plane loads of people into skyscrapers in our greatest city killing thousands of innocent Americans. The trust of many of our service men and women for their fellow Americans has been forever shattered. When the time comes for them to send their young sons and daughters to war for the US … will they do it? Can you blame them?

When a nations vision is forced to dissipate, that nation is doomed. When a nation’s hopes, and dreams, and aspirations, are shelved because social programs, such as socialized medicine, take precedence over that national vision… the death knell has sounded. When a nation sends it’s national treasure, its sons, and daughters, into harm’s way… and abandons them, that nation has lost its soul. Make no mistake about it. Many US troops in Afghanistan are beginning to question if their Commander-in-Chief has abandoned them.

Here are the words of the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, a man even his own party would seek to impeach today:

“The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission.”… Pres. John F. Kennedy

Kennedy also said:

“There are risks and costs to a program of action, but they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction”

President Harry Truman, the 33rd President of the US, said the following:

“America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination, and unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.”

Nowadays, the men mentioned above would be accused of insisting on “staying the course”. They would be ridiculed and hounded from office… even by their own Democrat Party.

That, Dear Reader, is how far we have sunk!

J. D. Longstreet

**********************

America+Socialism America+Socialism+Apathy+Obama+Afghanistan+Iraq+Iran+Military+Freedom

OBAMACARE is ON THE WAY! ... J. D. Longstreet

OBAMACARE is ON THE WAY!
J. D. Longstreet
**************************

A few weeks ago, we warned that a National Healthcare bill, of some sort, would be making its way through Congress by the end of July. Looks as if I was off the mark - too far off the mark, actually. It now appears it could be any day now!

Over the weekend, David Axelrod, a senior White House Adviser, said that President Obama would soon push for a health-care reform plan. Axelrod said the President’s plan would call for the creation of a government-owned health-care company. He went on to predict that Congress would pass such a plan by the end of the summer.

This is called “Incrementalism,” dear reader. Obama knows if he hits us with the total Socialized Healthcare package, right out of the starting gate, it would be doomed to failure. So, he is falling back on the tried and true method of squeezing a little at a time out of the taxpayers in “increments”, so to speak, until one morning, not too far down the road from now, we will awaken to a whole new world of Socialized Medicine in America. Then we will have that wonderful healthcare, oh, say, like the British have. You know - where they have to extract their own teeth, or die while waiting in a queue for treatment for cancer, or wait weeks and months while some government committee decides who lives and who dies because healthcare has had to be rationed because the government system is out of money and the taxpayers simply cannot sustain another tax increase… and the nightmare just goes on and on and on ……

“Oh, but”, you say, “ The President is just creating a government owned insurance COMPANY… not universal healthcare.” To which I would be compelled to ask, “Have you not been paying attention?”

Look – private Insurance companies have no hope of survival in competition with a government owned insurance company. As with all government agencies it will be financed with your tax dollars and would never have to worry about meeting a budget, or making money for the stockholders - none of the ordinary problems faced by a private “for profit” company. Private insurers will be driven out of business until, in a very short time, there will be only ONE insurance company in America… the GOVERNMENT Insurance Company… or, as it will most likely be known…“Obamacare”! That’s when Americans get hit with the second increment of the plan… the entire universal healthcare plan including inferior medical care, massive tax increases, and healthcare rationing –and worse than all these, government control of your very LIFE! (There is an article at the Wall Street Journal Online titled: “How Washington Rations - ObamaCare omen: a case study in 'cost-control'” that will give you some insight into what you and I can expect in the way of healthcare rationing by the politicians in Washington once this new ObamaCare gets underway. You’ll find it HERE. )

I ran across an article, while doing a little research the other day, entitled “Dear America (Canada Warns US about Socialized Medicine).” We recommend you take a look at it. It is brief and to the point and well worth the couple or three minutes it will take you to read it. You’ll find it HERE. One more article I’d recommend to you is entitled: “Why Socialized Medicine is Wrong for America.” You’ll find it HERE.

Understand this: I believe, as I said earlier, some sort of socialized Medicine legislation will be passed by the US Congress this year. Most likely it will be the ObamaCare government-owned insurance company. Just remember, it is only the beginning. It is, in fact, the beginning of your life as a serf, as a slave to the government. Because, you see, that is what socialism is - slavery by another name.

There has always been an excellent reason America was the only industrialized nation on earth without socialized medicine. Because we are, at least we WERE, a free and independent people who believed in ourselves, and in our God, to meet the challenges thrown at us by whatever and whomever and always find it within ourselves to stand our ground and overcome. Somehow, somewhere, along the way, we have lost that belief in ourselves. We have now become like so many of the countries to which we used to send missionaries.

I can recall when Americans were known for our rugged individualism, for our independence, for our undaunted “can do spirit”. Back in those days we won wars simply because it never entered our minds there was a possibility we COULD lose! America was different. We were a nation built from the human “cast offs” of the other nations of the planet. Those were the people who crossed vast oceans in the holds of ships with only the planking of a single deck separating them from the filthy bilges of the ship’s cesspools below them. All this they endured just for a chance, and ONLY a chance, to live and breathe free and take advantage of whatever opportunity this new land might, in its bounty, offer them.

Americans are a mongrel people, a mixed-breed, a hodge-podge of genes tempered in the crucible of hardship and molded in a unique form the world has never seen before. Made thusly, and armed with the belief that God was truly on our side, we were unstoppable by anyone or anything save ourselves.

The introduction of Socialism, by the former Democratic Party, has infiltrated our hearts, our minds, AND our souls, and replaced all the above with self-doubt and squashed our belief in ourselves until we have become a blob of malleable putty in the hands of a malicious spirit which has all but replaced our belief in ourselves and in our God. A nation thus disemboweled cannot long survive the onslaught of the nations so long embarrassed by our obvious superiority, which was earned by the sweat of hard work and dedication to the principal’s set down, in writing, by our founders in the Constitution and by our Creator in The Bible.

All this has brought America to a crossroads. Take the right road and we can regain our glory. Take the other and we become one of the mediocre nations who look with longing on their lost empires and their lost glory.

We Americans have a chance, albeit a small chance, to show some of the spine of our ancestors and stop this massive takeover of a huge portion of this nation’s treasury and an even greater portion of the self-respect of our citizens placed in our hands for safe keeping by the founders of this unique experiment in democracy.

They’re going to come at us fast and hard with everything they’ve got while attempting to keep us off balance, all the while, with one crisis after another, real or imagined.

We can do it - but it is going to require that we call on the last reserves we have of courage and determination and a deeper reliance on our God for guidance that we must be willing to unhesitatingly follow.

We have heard it over and over again: “Freedom is not free.” America is about to learn exactly why that claim was ever made and what it truly means.

The decision is a simple one. We must choose between socialism and slavery to the state, or democracy and freedom for ourselves and the generations of Americans yet unborn. And we must make that decision and act upon it today. There is no time to lose.

J. D. Longstreet
**************
Conservative+Socialized+Medicine+Freedom+Slavery+Democrats